Be Careful this summer; The police are watching
Editorial

How many times have we heard people complain that the police should concentrate on catching criminals, rather than harassing law-abiding citizens who might be driving a bit too fast?

We contend there are a couple of good reasons why police go after speeders. One is there are so many of them who drive excessively fast, and by that we don't mean a couple of clicks over the posted limit. We're talking about the real lead foots out there. Not all of them might go flat-out and risk having their wheels impounded for going 50 km-h over the limit. You can go 40 over the limit and still be a menace. Another reason why police go after speeders is because they put themselves and others at risk.

The real worry is police are catching plenty of these speeders.

The Sunday Sun reported 60 vehicles had been pulled off provincial highways so far in a weekend safety blitz. As well, the same story stated that the 5,000th driver was nabbed Saturday under the provincial anti-racing legislation.

Some people just fail to get the message.

This office last week received a news release announcing that the new OPP air patrol was paying off handsomely. In it's first week in the air, it had resulted in more that 90 charges being laid against speeders, aggressive drivers and those who were not using their seatbelts.

"With the aircraft, we are able to target the kind of drivers who put both themselves and others at risk on Ontario's highways," OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino commented.

"In the first 33 minutes the plane was in the last week, we stopped and charged six speeders, and over the course of the first week, we have laid more than 90 charges, including three for going more than 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit, making unsafe lane changes and no seatbelts," he added.

It's not just OPP who are cracking down. Police all over Ontario have a job to do keeping these speeders and other dangerous drivers under control.

That's what we expect. Too many lives depend on it.